This invention relates to article holders and, more particularly, to devices, particularly adapted to be secured to the steering columns of automotive vehicles and the like, which include receptacle means for retaining articles such as receipts, currency, etc. conveniently accessible to the vehicle operator.
In the course of highway travel, it is common for automobile travellers to accumulate various papers, such as gasoline and toll receipts, hotel bills, restaurant receipts, etc., that the traveller wishes to preserve for future use. In the case of commercial drivers, such as salesmen or truck drivers, it becomes a virtual necessity that these papers, along with invoices and other commercial documents, be carefully preserved for business and tax purposes.
It is common for motorists to attempt to save such documents by the obvious expedients of putting them in a pocket or handbag or, in many cases, stuffing them in the glove compartment of the automobile or truck, if it has one and if it can be conveniently reached from the driver's seat. Other makeshift expedients have been used such as clips or rubber bands on sun visors, trays on the vehicle dashboard, etc., none of which provides a safe repository for these important documents.
Various types of devices for mounting on the dashboard, sun visor, etc. of an automobile are commercially available, which provide receptacles for containment of specific items such as cigarettes, coins and maps, for example. There have also been devised in the past various devices for holding drivers' aids or conveniences within reach of the driver by attaching them to the steering column. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,483,592 to Pelstring discloses a matchbox holder attached to the steering column of an automotive vehicle by means of a spring wrapped around the column and hooked to the matchbox receptacle. Various forms of rigid clamps, requiring tools for installation, are also known in the prior art, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,634,940 to Carty et al. and 2,918,202 to Constantine et al.
These prior art devices are characterized in that they are specifically intended for a single purpose or require tools to mount and dismount from the steering column. In this regard, because modern automobiles in general have only short sections of steering column between the dashboard and the steering wheel available for mounting, many of these prior art devices are effectively unusable on present-day vehicles.